Appliance door



Dec. 18, 1962 c. LOVERCHECK 3,06

APPLIANCE DOOR Filed Nov. 16, 1959 lllll H.

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INVENTOR. Cl/A RLE 5 L. LOVERCHECK United States atent Qfifice 3,%8,3?Patented Dec. 18, 1962 3,068,875 APPLIANiIE DGUR Charles L. Lovercheck,632 W. 7th St, Erie, Pa. Filed Nov. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 853,398 3 Claims.((11. 134-58) This invention relates to doors and, more particularly, todoors for kitchen appliances; for example, dishwashers and the like.

Automatic dishwashers made according to present designs frequently havedish supporting racks which are slidable inwardly and outwardly like adrawer in a piece of furniture. The dishwasher often has a door hingedat the bottom which swings downwardly and the dish rack is pulledoutwardly over the door. Therefore, in order to remove any dishes fromthe rack, the door must first be swung down to a horizontal position,then the rack pulled over it. Therefore, in order to remove any disheswhatsoever from the rack, the door must be in a fully open positionwhere it will form an obstruction to the normal trafdc around in frontof the dishwasher. Further, mechanical looks or clamps are provided forfastening the door in closed position in order to cause the door to forma firm seal with the front of the dishwasher.

It has been discovered that in order to form a good seal around a doorin a dishwasher if the door is attached to the sliding rack, anelaborate lock or clamp must be provided to cause the door to seal tothe dishwasher case all around its periphery. It has further beendiscovered that by providing an electromagnet for holding the door tothe dishwasher during the time that the dishes are being washed, thelocking arrangement for the door and the seal therefor can beconsiderably simplified.

The inventor is familiar with the permanent magnet type of door sealssuch as are used in refrigerators; however, such door seals would beimpractical for use in a sliding door such as in a dishwasher because itwould be difiicult to pull the door straight outward against the forceof the permanent magnets. By providing an electromagnet lock, the dooris sealed to the dishwasher during the time that the dishes are beingwashed. This is the only time that this seal is needed.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide animproved door for an appliance.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved door for useon a kitchen appliance.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved doorutilizing an electromagnet for providing both a holding means and a sealfor the door.

A further object of the invention is to provide a door for an appliancewhich is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and simpleand efficient to use.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consistsof the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fullydescribed, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and more particularlypointed out .in the appended claims, it being understood that changesmay be made in the form, size, proportions, and minor details ofconstruction without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of theadvantages of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a dishwasher according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front View of the dishwasher shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of an electromagnetic element for adishwasher;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a wiring diagram of the device;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of another embodiment or" the sealingdevice and electromagnet for the device taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a partial side view of the device shown in PEG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view of the embodiment of the invention shownin FIG. 4.

Now with more specific reference to the drawing, a dishwasher iii of theopen front type is shown having a case 12 with an interior cavitytherein. The case 12 has a rear wall 13, side walls 11, and a base 14for supporting it on a floor or the like in the conventional manner.Rails 17 and 18 are attached to the inside of the side walls 11.

A rack 24 slides in and out of the walls 11 on double suspension rails16 and 26 which are carried on rollers 25 and 25. A door 15 is fixed tothe front in the rack 24. The rollers 25 are attached to the rail 16 atthe lower front edge thereof and it rests on a lower flange 17 of thetrack which is attached to the inner side of the dishwasher 10. The rearrollers 25" are attached to the upper rear part of the rail 16 and rideon the lower edge of the track or rail 17 which is also attached inspaced relation to the flange 17.

The rail 26 telescopes with the rail 16 and rolls thereon carried on theroller 25". The rails 16 and 26 with the rollers 25 thereon make up adouble suspension rail similar to the double suspension railsconventionally used to support double suspension filing cabinet drawers.These rollers will be made of some non-corrosive material such as nylonso that they will be unaffected by the water and detergents used in thedishwasher 19.

An impeller of the conventional type will be located in a bottom 23 ofthe dishwasher 1%. Other circulating devices for the water such as isconventionally used may be provided. The door 15 has an iron core member27 fixed to its inner surface and extending therearound. The core member27 provides an armature for an electromagnet 31 when the door 15 isclosed. The iron core member 7 is spaced outwardly from a sealing blade3% so that the core member 27 will come into proximate relation with theelectromagnets 31, thus resulting in maximum force. A sealing member 35will be made of a strip of rubber or the like and may be supported tothe door 15 by means of a channel member 29. The member 29 could befixed to the inside of the door 15 and will extend completely around theoutside thereof.

Spaced cylindrical cores 34 are attached to the door 15 and theelectromagnets 31 are wound around the cores 34. Thus, the cores 34 areconnected in series with each other and in parallel with an impellermotor M so that when the diswasher is running, the door 15 willbelocked.

Since the rack comes out with the door, the door does not form anunnecessary obstruction to traffic.

- The embodiment of the seal shown in FIG. 4 discloses a series ofinversely wound coils embedded in a resilient seal and wrapping aroundan iron core 19. Coils 131 are in series so that spaced magnets areformed by the coils 131 and the core 19 which will attract the blade 3%.Flat edges 36 may be fitted into the channel like member 29'.

The electromagnet shown in FIG. 8 has the'advantage over permanentmagnets used in similar applications in that the magnet and seal areunitary. Since the spaced coils 131 are alternately wound in oppositedirections, segments of the core 19 between each spaced coil will bemagnetized to form fields F1, F2, and F3 which will define separatemagnets with like poles adjacent each other so that the magnetic fieldswill be as indicated and will interlock with the armature formed by theiron dishwasher case. Thus, a considerably greater holding power will beobtained from the spaced electromagnets than would be obtained if therod were wound with one continuous coil of wire. The iron rod core 19can be bent in the shape of a square so that it will form a continuousseal around the front of the dishwasher.

The material ofa seal 22 could be of sponge rubber or any other suitableresilient seal forming material. In

the same manner, the sealing member 35 could be made of sponge rubber orsuitable sealing material.

It will be noted from FIG. 5 that since the coils 131 are connected inseries with each other and in parallel with the motor M which drives thedishwasher impeller, the door will only be actuated when the motor isactuated. Therefore, no power will be consumed for sealing the doorexcept when the motor is operated and, thus, power consumption will beminimized.

The foregoing specification sets forth the invention in its preferredpractical forms but the structure shown is capable of modificationwithin a range of equivalents without departing from the invention whichis to be understood is broadly novel as is commensurate with theappended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows.

I claim:

1. In combination, an electric dishwasher having electrically operatedcleaning means and a door, said dishwasher having a door opening with ajamb means therearound, means for mo /ably mounting said door whereby itmay be brought into closingposition with said jamb means or moved awaytherefrom, a flexible, compressible sealing gasket mounted on one ofsaid door and said -jamb means, the other of said door and said jambmeans having a surface against which said gasket is adapted to bear, amagnetically attractable material carried by one of said door and saidjamb means, an electromagnet attached to the other of said door and saidjamb means, and means to automatically energize said electromagnet whensaid cleaning means is operating and to automatically deenergize saidelectromagnet when said cleaning means is not operating. 7

2. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein said dishwasher has a rackslidable inwardly and outwardly thereof, said door being attached tosaid rack and slidable therewith.

3. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein a plurality of saidelectromagnets is provided, said electromagnets are disposed around saiddoor and attached to said dishwasher, and said means to automaticallyenergize and deenergize said electromagnet being adapted to energize anddeenergize said elect-romagnets simultaneously.

References Cited in the file of this patent

